Pupils ponder perplexities

By Sean Barron

Insulating the family barn was the impetus for one student’s project.

YOUNGSTOWN — Have you ever found yourself wondering how plants react to music, or which hot sauce kills the most germs?

Have you lately contemplated the effects of smoking on your voice, which paper towel is the most absorbent, and which of four common household items best prevents rust?

These and countless other scientific conundrums were explored in detail during Saturday’s Lake-to-River Science Fair in Youngstown State University’s Beeghly Center. Sponsors were YSU, the Industrial Information Institute for Education Inc. and District 15 Science Fair, which covers Mahoning, Trumbull, Columbiana and Ashtabula counties.

The seven-hour program featured science projects of pupils in grades five through 12 from the four counties. The pupil with the best project received a four-year full-tuition scholarship to YSU.

Braxton Wessell and his father recently decided to insulate their hog barn, and the move inspired the Geneva High School junior to delve a bit deeper into which types of insulation hold the most heat the longest. So he came up with the idea to place five kinds in a freezer for two hours while monitoring their temperature every 30 minutes.

Contrary to his hypothesis, Braxton found that expanding foam, not fiberglass insulation, worked best in that capacity.

The link between colors and personality traits was the order of scientific business for Marissa Gorvet, an eighth-grader at St. Christine School on the city’s West Side. She strived to find out what, if any, general correlations existed between a people’s favorite color and their personality type.

“I had lots of ideas. My teacher let me see an old booklet and I chose this one,” she explained. “This was something that sparked my interest.”

Marissa, whose science teacher is Marie Viglio, gave a personality survey with 36 yes-or-no questions to 64 friends, family members and others, and had participants list their two favorite colors. She compiled the data and found that most — 68 percent — related their favorite color to their personality traits.

The hair-raising question Kaitlyn Horvath and Lindsay Blanton sought to answer was whether professional hair color products or those found at most stores keep the dyed colors of hair samples intact the longest. After washing several samples 25 times, the two Hubbard High School freshmen concluded that the professional products went to the root of the hair and didn’t fade as quickly.

The ninth-graders, who received honorable mention for their high school science project, also pointed to economic benefits to buying the more expensive professional colors versus store brands.

“The nonprofessional product only goes to the scalp, so it washes out faster,” Kaitlyn explained. “You’re spending more in the long run.”

Participants were required to come up with a scientific problem, develop a hypothesis, conduct tests and experiments to test the hypothesis, and arrive at a conclusion, noted John Ulicney, one of the judges and a District 15 member.

Pupils received scores up to 40 points based on knowledge shown, use of the scientific method, clarity of expression and originality and creativity. The four rankings ranged from satisfactory to superior.

Ulicney noted that if pupils follow what’s required and find their hypotheses are wrong, their projects are as worthy and valid as those in which the hypotheses are proven correct.

“We want students to be interested in science and have it be a positive learning experience for them, and encourage students to think logically and problem solve,” he said.

Students who receive superior ratings will be considered for the state competition set for May 10 in Columbus.